Promoting the Economy while Protecting the Environment

The passage of I-502 will help remove the dark veil from Cannabis. Allowing recreational use of Cannabis for Washington and Colorado adult residences is a huge step forward, both economically and for the cause of social freedoms everywhere.
But, the recreational use of cannabis is a small percentage of the value of cannabis. Seems odd that one can consume Cannabis as a euphoric, but not allowed to grow the plant for the more valuable industrial purposes.
But, things are about to change. Monday I will be contacting policy analysts in Olympia to hammer out details of a bill going before the WA. State Legislators, studying the viability of allowing farmers to create the hemp industry from the ground up.
I am excited to have the opportunity to share my twenty plus years of knowledge of Cannabis for industrial uses with policy writers. Before this is a done deal, we will need to rally support amongst the majority of legislators. Please, if your a voter in WA. State, please contacted your Senators, and Representatives and have them help move this pending bill forward.

In the summer of 2007, during your campaign for the presidency, you
said you would respect state medical marijuana laws if you were
victorious in the election. In March of 2009, Attorney General Eric
Holder said that your position as president was what you said it was
going to be during the campaign. In October 2009, your Department of
Justice issued a memo to U.S. Attorneys clarifying this position. The
following was the key sentence in that memo:

“As a general matter, pursuit of these priorities should not focus
federal resources in your States on individuals whose actions are in
clear and unambiguous compliance with existing state laws providing for
the medical use of marijuana.”

This memo was clearly intended to cover not only medical marijuana
patients, but also the dispensaries that had been established in
California and elsewhere to provide patients with a reliable source for
their medicine. There would be no reason to issue a memo instructing
U.S. Attorneys to de-prioritize medical marijuana possession cases, as
everyone knows that federal prosecutors rarely, if ever, prosecute
individuals for small amounts of marijuana.

Despite this memo — or perhaps in direct defiance of it — we now have
two U.S. Attorneys in Washington state sabotaging the prospects of a
bill to regulate the distribution of medical marijuana by implying to
the governor that they are likely to go after any and all instances of
marijuana distribution. They are even suggesting that they could
prosecute state employees — a position directly undermined by past
federal court precedent! This is extremely disturbing on many levels.

Based directly on their threats, Washington Governor Chris Gregoire is
now saying she will veto this sensible and needed legislation if it
reaches her desk. Your people, who have been advised to respect state
medical marijuana laws, may be directly responsible for an effective
law to regulate the system not going into effect.

What is truly pathetic is that the U.S. Attorneys don’t even appreciate
the irony of their position. They complain that the “Washington
legislative proposals will create a licensing scheme” for
marijuana distribution, which would “undermine the federal
government’s efforts to regulate” the production and distribution
of marijuana. No, the truth is that the Washington legislation is
specifically intended to regulate the distribution of marijuana; the
U.S. Attorneys, on the other hand, want to keep the distribution of
medical marijuana entirely unregulated and controlled by the black
market.

So what are you going to do, Mr. Obama? Are you going to let these U.S.
Attorneys defy your stated policy in order to force medical marijuana
patients into the criminal market? Or are you going to tell them to
respect state laws — and the state legislative process — so that
states can regulate the distribution of medical marijuana in the manner
they feel is best for patients and for their states?

This is the official web-site promoting Washington State Initiative Petition I-1068.

Initiative 1068 supporters need 241,000 verifiable registered voter signatures by July 2, 2010. If successful, the voters of Washington State will have the opportunity to decide with their vote to stop the madness of prosecuting the current cannabis laws.

Initiative I-1068 would remove State civil and criminal penalties for persons eighteen years or older who cultivate, possess, transport, sell, or use cannabis products. Restrictions and penalties for persons under eighteen would remain the same.

I encourage all concerned to visit http://www.sensiblewashington and register to help gather signatures or find where, in your locality you can sign the petition re-legalizing cannabis in Washington State. Many counties still need coordinators. This is an awesome task, but I am sure with a great volunteer effort we can win this battle.

The year is 2015. One year ago, all 50 states and the federal government ended the Modern Prohibition of what most Americans once referred to as the “War on Drugs.” Today, special stores offer regulated, taxed and formerly illegal drugs in every state. The ‘drug dealer’ now works a $15.00 an hour job and does not care if the customer buys a candy bar or cocaine. Yes, he checks for ID for under-aged kids. What problems remain in the country and around the world?

After the first seven interviews with my brother Police Officer and Detective Howard Wooldridge of Lansing, Michigan (retired) concerning the “War on Drugs”, we skip ahead seven years to see what happened when Congress legalized drugs across the United States of America.

“In 2014 the U.S. Coast Guard blasted out of the water a record number of terrorist speedboats attempting to land on US beaches,” Officer Howard Wooldridge said. “CG guns sunk seven boats and sent approximately 50 ‘would-be-terrorists’ to Davy Jone’s Locker.

“Though the terrorists may be enjoying their 70 virgins in Martyr Heaven, they will have no chance to harm America,” Coast Guard Admiral Jackson reported. The Homeland Security chief believes the US is safer, now that law enforcement and the military are focusing on terrorists and not on boatloads of cocaine or flying around looking for marijuana gardens.

“Al Qaeda’s operating budget to buy guns, bullets and to fund new attacks on the Western world has been severely impacted by the loss of drug revenues. NATO forces in Afghanistan have the Taliban on the run and its commander believes that by 2016 the country will be free of these terrorists. Al Qaeda simply ran out of money to buy bullets.

“Afghan farmers are now growing high quality hemp for a growing bio-fuel industry and quality cloth is being made into soft, durable shirts for the US and European markets. As a bonus, the hemp seeds are providing much-needed nutrition to the country.

“The state prisons still hold over two million men and women, costing taxpayers some 50 billion. All state governors and their legislatures are struggling to decide who should be let out first and under what criteria Pressure drives the process forward, as to the educational needs of students. Education suffered due to so many prisons built. Now state officials use those monies to build new junior colleges and pay qualified instructors. Most states have already released those citizens that simply possessed the now legal drugs. That was easy.

“State and federal treasury officials report that tax revenues on marijuana and Ecstasy have exceeded their projections. Nearly 10 billion dollars flowed into state and federal coffers in 2014. This revenue stream, combined with not spending over 100 billion last year to enforce prohibition laws, has allowed states to finance a host of new bridges, roads, much needed sewer projects and other infrastructure projects.

“Prison guards and their unions are lobbying the state houses to slow down the release of drug prisoners. Every state has already stopped the building of new prisons and many have already closed a couple, laying off the guards. Fortunately, the states are providing free training for the guards to become long distance truck drivers. Experts predict that by 2018 half the prisons in the country will close. Those that remain will hold only rapists, child molesters, bank robbers, etc.

“County jails across the country are already over half empty, freeing up money for local schools. County hospitals have noticed a sharp decline in costs associated with the old Drug War. Since gunfights between street dealers have disappeared and overdoses have become rare, the emergency rooms are better able and have more money to take care of heart attacks and accident victims. Emergency room doctors and nurses have noticed a sharp decline in car accidents caused by the drunk driver. The police doubled their arrests of DUIs in 2014 to nearly three million, after they stopped chasing folks like Willie Nelson and Rush Limbaugh.

“Child predators are now running scared all across the US. Wisely, the 70,000 narcotics officers were re-trained to go after the Internet based, child porn and child rape video crowd. In 2013 the police only arrested some 2,000 adults who had down-loaded porn on their personal computers. This year my colleagues are on track to execute a search warrant on each of the over 600,000 computers with child porn. Since 40 percent of searches also find the child featured in the porn, tens of thousands of little boys and girls have been taken from these abusive homes. Their lives improved overnight. Sadly, late this year, the police have noticed that ever more child porn perpetuates overseas, out of reach of US law enforcement. Better but not a perfect world!

“Shortly after prohibition ended, tens of thousands of citizens who were addicted to the illegal drugs came out of the shadows and asked for treatment. Without the stigma of being illegal, cocaine and heroin addicts felt free to ask for the help they needed. Though this created a huge demand, treatment slots opened up as ‘drug’ courts disappeared. The old system treated anyone caught with a little pot or cocaine as addicted and needing treatment. Now comedians make jokes about such silliness.

“Whatever happened to the roughly two million who formerly sold drugs on the sidewalks? Most found regular jobs and some went on welfare. Gangs have already shrunk dramatically, as kids could no longer make easy money without breaking a sweat. A small number of dealers still look for the easy money and have started robbing banks. Like Bonnie and Clyde 100 years earlier, the police are either killing them in gunfights or they are arrested and put in prison.

“Columbia now is gaining the upper hand in its 50 year struggle with the Marxist guerrillas of FARC. Without the drug money, FARC like Al Qaeda, is struggling to buy bullets and pay its soldiers. Violence dropped dramatically in 2014. Columbia is still the source for most of the cocaine consumed by the rest of world. However, it is loaded onto ships legally and the price has dropped from 80 dollars per gram retail to one dollar. Once again Columbia makes more money exporting coffee than drugs.

“Hollywood struggles to produce movies, absent the easy format of cops versis drug dealers. In recent years many of the action movies tied themselves to the drug trade.

“In the Canadian province of British Columbia unemployment has soared, as the famous BC Bud is now being grown south of the border legally. Former cannabis gardeners are being re-trained to become fish farmers.

“The US courts have become unclogged of drug cases but a new wave of civil lawsuits has been filed. Because civil cases took five or more years during prohibition to come to trial, many never even bothered. Now that justice is swift, civil claims have skyrocketed. Better not perfect.

“Allstate Insurance recently announced a drop in rates for both car and home. Since property crime dropped by over 50 percent in 2014 and far fewer crashes caused by the drinking driver, claims were way down. Other companies are expected to match or exceed the rate cuts announced by Allstate.

“Drug use and abuse plummeted in 2014, much to the chagrin of those who screamed that legalization would cause the destruction of America. “Smoking weed used to be cool when it was illegal but now, why bother?” quipped a Dallas high school senior.

“Another said, “I used to smoke weed to impress my friends but since legalization, I stopped smoking. Now I mostly drink.” Different, maybe better, certainly not perfect.

“High school graduation rates increased in 2014 in the inner cities. Teens now realize they will never be able to work in the drug trade, like their parents did. Social workers said that the absence of the negative role model provided by the rich, successful, teen drug dealer was the single factor tied to higher graduation rates.

“America now realizes that the Chicken Littles were wrong. The sky did not fall in and very few people in 2014 began using cocaine, heroin, etc. Murder rates and property crime rates dropped back to 1960s levels, improving the quality of life, especially in the inner cities. Some problems linger and must be dealt with. However, like the experience of 1933, 2014 marked a turning point in America’s crime problem.”

Today, Officer Howard Wooldridge heads up a task force in Washington, DC to educate and enlighten congressmen at the highest levels. He works for a better future for all Americans. He can be reached at: Education Specialist, Law Enforcement Against Prohibition, www.leap.cc , Washington, DC. He speaks at colleges, political clubs, Rotary, Kiwanis and Lions Clubs across America. LEAP speakers in 36 states address this issue to citizens around the country to bring an end to the Drug War.

The mission of LEAP is to reduce the multitude of unintended harmful consequences resulting from fighting the war on drugs and to lessen the incidence of death, disease, crime, and addiction by ultimately ending drug prohibition.

“Envision a world where crime is cut in half, terrorists don’t make money selling drugs and kids are not employed in the drug trade,” Wooldridge said. “Envision a world where the police focus on DUI, child predators and terrorists. Imagine a world where if you have a drug problem, you see a doctor not a judge. All are possible, when we find the courage to end our Prohibition.”

Author: Joe Kennelly

Joe Kennelly is an Examiner from Seattle. You can see Joe’s articles onJoe’s Home Page.

Ed says: “I tried to reply to the National Republican Senatorial Committee concerning a donation, it was rejected. I am wondering why?” me

Dear NRSC;

Give it up, your arguments are bogus, get on board or get left behind. Leave your Right Wing dogma on high, and speak to the millions of Americans down here. The ones of us without work, unemployment running out, no-health care program. Talk with us about how NAFTA, GATA, world trade BS really effect the working class. Make it possible for us to put our hands and hearts to work. Open your eyes to Industrial Hemp.

We don’t need government looking in our bedrooms, or our gun closets. If a woman needs an abortion, it’s not up to you, I, or the majority to decide. It’s up to her, her doctor, and her God. We don’t need to piss in a cup to do a good job in the work-place, but we do just to qualify for a job. The mafia used to sell insurance, now we go to jail if we don’t buy insurance. What’s wrong with that picture. Put the FDA protecting our food and drug supply, not making more piss-cups, or experimenting with social engineering.

Your nuts, your all nuts, and we aren’t going to take it much longer. You have tea parties protesting taxes. What say we all just quit collecting, or paying any taxes. I am hearing you there, we sure don’t want socialism. Sorry I can’t donate this year, Wall Street has all my cash.

Talk with us, not over us, e-nuff of this refer madness, we are not stupid. And by the way, Reagan wasn’t all that much…. ed at hemplobby.org

##

In response to:

Dear Republican Friend,

Today marks 100 days since Barack Obama took the oath of office. During this time, he has:

Proposed the largest budget in U.S. history;

Suggested $1.4 trillion in new taxes over the next decade;

Released highly confidential CIA memos detailing strategies used that produced timely intelligence and thwarted further deadly terrorist attacks;

Proposed cutting missile defense by $1.4 billion just days after North Korea tested a long-range missile.

Senate Republicans are literally the only line of defense preventing President Obama, Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid from advancing their ultra-liberal agenda.

At best, this White House has mismanaged the first days of this new administration – including tax-evading Cabinet nominees and a stimulus bill that included taxpayer-funded bonuses for AIG executives.

At worst, the administration has cozied up to enemy regimes while shunning allies, given terrorism suspects unprecedented rights, and apologized for America’s “arrogance” on three different foreign continents.

This will become reality soon. Will you give the farmers in West Lewis Co. a break, and help us forge ahead with a new green industry? Help us write a bill that will allow us to grow and process industrial hemp. It will take 1500 acres, rail and high-way transportation systems, and areas for industrial complex. The Curtis and Ceres Valleys are a perfect fit with hemp related industries. The Port of Chehalis wants to do something at the old Weyerhaeuser sorting facilities near the forks of the Chehalis River.

Yes, even fish food can be processed from hemp seed as demonstrated by the U. of Kentucky over 10 years ago. Our own Washington State University did studies in the early 90’s developing building materials from hemp stalks.

Please contact me if you are interested in helping the farmers of your district. You have my e-mail address, and I’ll give you a toll free phone number for you to call as not too cost the State any excess expenditures. 800-963-4367 Or, you can just wait until marijuana is as legal as alcohol . Why wait to develop hemp industries? Our loggers and farmers need work now. Show the GREEN side of Washington Republicans…

“Promoting the Economy while Protecting the Environment” is our motto at Hemplobby, and I hope you would checkout our publication PDF “Practical Guide to Hemp”at our web-site.

Yours Truly; Ed Saukkooja, Director of Hemplobby.org

As a side note: This e-mail will be sent to the Daily Chronicle and Olympian newspapers as a “open letter” by Friday 5/01/09 unless I hear from both of you.

I live in small town in your district. Our towns elected officials are making a major mistake of robbing the treasury with a request of COPS money. We have no crime! I still leave my house unlock, I walk the streets at night without protection, and we have no fear form my neighbors or any criminal element.

Presently, Pe Ell town marshal is paid for 20 hours a week. He doesn’t live anywhere close to our community, and the town furnishes him a car, and picks up all his travel expenses to and from his home. Last year, the town spent over $60,000 for marshaling. The town marshal feels he needs more help in protecting us, so he applied for a COPS grant, which is unwarranted and unnecessary, and it is my belief is only self-aggrandizing.

I have lived in this community all my life, graduating from PLS in 1964. I will tell you in all honesty, the worst problems in this community have been caused by the the police themselves. The last time Pe Ell received COPS program money, the Mayor was re-called, mostly because of the problems with the local marshal and his Barny Fife assistants.

Pe Ell does not need a Police Force. The Lewis Co. Sheriff’s office does a fine job, give a grant to them. I was glad to see this program only has one billion, and there has been over eight billion dollars requested from the program all ready. I am sure the Sheriff could put it to good use, but not the Pe Ell Marshals office.

How do I see the grant proposal submitted by the marshall of Pe Ell? I would like to read the lies he submitted warranting COPS funding for this community.

You and I both know, crime in related to the economy. Send the money to the cities. We here in Pe Ell, do not need Federal Money to solve a nonexistent problem.

Last, but not least: If the COPS grant program funds Pe Ell Policing, the citizens of this community will vote to become unincorporated. You can “make book” on that.

HempLobby

Hemp Lobby encourages the use of hemp cannabis for industrial applications as well as enthusiastically supports medicinal applications of cannabis and adamantly denounces the misguided war on drugs.

Based in the logging town of Pe Ell, Washington (USA), Hemp Lobby takes a global views of economics and agricultural policy and seeks to educate policymakers on the critical factors to socio-ecological success.